Cut in NSW schools funding trigger lower federal cash

NSW government cuts to school spending will trigger lower funding by the federal government this year.

The annual increase in federal funding for schools will fall to 3.9 per cent this year from 5.9 per cent last year. If the rate had stayed the same, private schools would receive $150 million more than they will.

Deep cuts to the education budget in NSW will push the rate further down next year. The annual increase, known as the indexation rate, of federal grants to non-government schools is pegged to school funding by states. The government yesterday signed off on changes to the average government school recurrent cost (AGSRC), a measure of the average cost of educating a student in a government school, which is used to determine the rate of indexation applied to grants to account for cost rises in real terms.

The last time the figure was at 3.9 per cent was in 2005. “It’s probably in the region of what we had been expecting," Independent Schools Council of Australia executive director Bill Daniels said.

Any reduction in state and territory government spending in government schools flows through to private schools as a result of the AGSRC. The arrangement was put in place by the Howard government.

Federal Minister for School Education
Peter Garrett
said state and territory governments had slowed growth in spending on schools in recent years, resulting in a subdued 3.9 per cent rate of indexation.